Crimson Roses
by AngelQueenoChaos
Summary: A IZ fic about Brendon meeting Keef and saving him from his abusive father and having Keef join a Vampire Hunting group as the leader to form allegiance with the Swollen Eyeballs.


A man was standing infront of a house, wearing a dark uniform along with sunglasses; hair was spiked and colored black with white tips, almost like a black and white sunburst. He was here for a reason, he had to investigate suspicions of a parent abusing—and possibly raping their child. He was called about an hour ago by one of the neighbors who were deeply concerned of the issue. He sighed as he raised a finger to push the doorbell and waited for an answer.

Keef perked up confusedly when the doorbell rang... His dad wasn't supposed to be home for another hour or so… so it couldn't be him. The young teen stood up from his place on the couch where he'd been thinking... seeing as he didn't have the privilege to watch TV. He straightened out the large, dirty sweater that he wore, hoping that the material was doing a good enough job of covering up the bruises that adorned his abdomen, back, and arms. He opened the door, looking up somewhat fearfully at the stranger, "H-Hello?" he squeaked fearfully.

"Hello, you must be the kid that the neighbors were calling me about." The man said and took out his badge to show to Keef, "Brendon Clyde, I'm here to investigate concerns about this household…"

The teen shrunk back slightly when the man took the badge out to show him... he didn't recognize this man. It definitely wasn't one of his dad's beer buddies and Keef didn't know whether to be glad that this male had come or terrified of him. His dad hadn't told him what to do in this situation... usually he had instructions and that only made the situation that much worse. "Uhm... hi," he said quietly seeing as it was the only thing he could think up.

"You don't need to be shy or nervous." Brendon put his badge back in his jacket. "It's only you here, of course? Then perhaps you might answer me some questions." He said, "Shall we discuss this inside?"

Keef moved to bite at his lower lip, a nervous habit he'd developed over the years of worry. "You should come back when my dad's home..." he said quietly... maybe handling the situation like this wouldn't get him in trouble later.

"And when does he arrive?" The investigator asked, perhaps this could be an opportunity to find evidence. This kid seems like he's entirely frightened of something, he can feel it too. Poor kid.

"In about an hour and a half," The teen said shyly, playing with the hem of the sweater nervously. He hoped the man would go away… he wasn't familiar and the teen didn't handle well with unfamiliar situations… hell he was homeschooled and didn't have very good communication skills

Brendon rubbed his chin, thinking about it, "perhaps I should come back, or wait here. But I prefer questions be answered by the victim—I dislike it when the suspect is even in the same building as the victim while I ask the questions."

"I'm not a victim sir..." Keef replied, continuing to play with the hem of his sweater. He wanted this man to go away soon… what if his dad came home early and saw him talking to this stranger?

"There has been a lot of calls from your neighbors about you being abused by your father, I'm pretty sure that would label you as a victim. Even moreso to why you wear a sweater when it's about 80 degrees." The vampire didn't really care if the father returned; he wasn't scared of a human.

The teen bit his lower lip once more, chewing on it nervously when the man spoke about his neighbors calling in and the obvious reason he was wearing a sweater in such warm weather. "I wouldn't know what you're talking about sir... and I have a fan going upstairs so it's chilly..." he lied.

Brendon chuckled, he could tell that the kid was lying, he wasn't an idiot. "You can tell me the truth—you probably wish to get away from it but you can't figure out how or are afraid of what he'll do to you. I know what it's like… You're not the first case I had."

Keef was somewhat startled when the investigator didn't believe him, usually when he used that lie the person left and just assumed everything was okay. He did want to escape... so badly… but he was even more scared of his dad than he was of this stranger and didn't know what to do. He could talk to the investigator… but he wasn't sure if he should trust him or not.

"I could help you, but you must trust me and have to help me get the evidence to get you out of this mess." The vampire said, also limiting his time talking to the kid so he could come back when the father arrives.

The teen finally stopped fidgeting with the hem of his sweater; looking up at the man desperately... maybe this investigator could help him. Though if this didn't work out he'd probably be getting the beating of his life. The thought had tears coming to his eyes… probably making him look only that much more pathetic.

Brendon placed a hand on the teen's head, "It should be alright, I'll come back when your dad comes home and we'll have a chat. Don't tell him I came by earlier."

Keef flinched slightly when the heavy hand was placed on his head but when no pain came of it he nodded some. He wasn't really sure how everything was going to work but at this point...he was just hoping that his father didn't come home drunk and get to beating him immediately... he didn't want this investigator to come over to that.

The investigator waved at the teen before backing and heading off in a different direction. He didn't drive a car much, personally be preferred bikes but he had his partner park the car blocks from the house—obviously his partner was driving him.

The teen closed the door securely when the investigator left and just made his way back up to the couch to sit down where he'd originally been. Because sitting there was okay... it was one of the few places he was actually allowed in the house besides his room.

Time had passed since Brendon was waiting in the car with his partner until it was time for the kid's father to arrive at the house. He waited, watching before he could make his move.

An old run down car eventually pulled into the driveway of the house, a man in his early 40s stumbling out of the vehicle drunkenly after a moment or two. He was about 6'3 and had wild, greasy light brown hair. He was a large man… well large in the sense that his shoulders were very broad and he looked like he had the body build of a quarterback who'd let himself go. The man made his way over to the house and threw the door open as though the barrier offended him in some way, "I'm home," he growled into the unclean abode.

The teen jumped slightly when the door flew open and he knew for a fact that his dad was home. He scrambled his way off of the couch and to the top of the stairs in front of the door, "Welcome home sir..." he said respectfully like the older male had basically trained him to do when he got home.

Brendon looked at his partner before getting out of the car and walking towards the house. He had a small bad feeling, but better be safe than sorry. He wanted to at least talk before the guy starts abusing the poor kid again.

"Yeah yeah whatever," The older male grumbled, waving the teen off before slamming the door behind him seeing as he hadn't yet noticed the investigator coming up to the house. He clunked his way up the stairs noisily, pushing the teen aside before moving to the kitchen to grab yet another beer even though he was probably really drunk anyway.

Keef took the shove silently, catching himself against the hand railing before he could end up toppling down the stairs like the last couple of times. "How was your day?" he asked after a moment... again something he'd been trained to do.

The vampire got to the door alittle after it was slammed and pushed the doorbell button. At this point he'll pretend he has first met the kid to lower the guy's suspicions, if it is really true that the kid was being abused—he'll have to do something about it.

"Get the door," The man commanded, slamming the fridge closed behind him after he'd grabbed his alcoholic beverage. He moved out to the couch and plopped down with no intention of getting up anytime soon.

"Yes sir..." The teen said, nodding some as he made his way down to the door and he opened it with a lot more tentative gentleness than his father had opened it only moments ago.

"Hey… The adult of the house here?" Brendon asked as he secretly winked at the kid. He had ideas in his head, had this all planned out—hopefully the father wasn't very drunk yet… or so he thought.

Keef perked up a little hopefully when he saw the investigator... but that hopefulness almost immediately vanished when his dad spoke upstairs, "Who is it?" he asked in a half growl half drunken slurr that caused the teen to flinch slightly. "Yes... he's home," he answered Brendon first before turning slightly to reply obediently into the house, "There's a man here that wants to talk to you sir."

The investigator placed his hands in his pockets, waiting to get the ok to come inside and have the chat—if things get out of hand, and he hoped it didn't, he'll have to hypnotize the guy to get him to cooperate.

There was a sound of displeasure from upstairs then the loud thump of heavy feet against carpet before the older male finally appeared at the top of the stairs. He glared accusingly at the red headed teen as though the fact that this man being at his house was the child's fault. "What do you want?" he asked the investigator rudely.

"Just to talk… I have some questions for you." Brendon answered as he got out his badge to show to the man, "Regarding the concerns from your neighbors." He said, having a serious look on his face.

"Those people don't know what the fuck they're talking about... just a bunch of paranoid idiots," The man drawled irritatingly, glaring at the badge as though that'd make it go away, "but whatever… come inside," he said rolling his eyes slightly as he moved back to his spot on the couch.

Keef glanced a little desperately over at the investigator for a second before disappearing upstairs and heading to his room… he didn't want his dad to think he was in the way later and decide that was a good reason to punish him.

The investigator put his badge back in his jacket before entering, having seen the kid's plea before he glanced at the other male. "Paranoid, maybe, which is why I'm here—to confirm that it is true or not true. At least so your neighbors wont he so worried about what's going on."

The human kicked off his shoes...not really paying much heed to where they landed as he put his gross feet up on the coffee table, "Yeah yeah whatever, the faster you ask your questions the faster you leave," the man said a little aggrivatedly… he didn't like this person in his house.

"As long as you answer honestly, and cooperate." Brendon said, cracking his neck and fingers some. "There have been reports that you're abusing your son, is this true?"

"Of course not," The human replied simply shrugging slightly as though the idea were absurd to him before pointedly taking a sip from the beer in his hand.

The vampire glared, as he suspected—denial. He sighed and removed his lenses and stared at the man straight in the eyes with his toxic green eyes glowing brightly. "Are you being honest?"

The human was somewhat confused when he noticed the investigators eyes glowing and he set the beer in his hand aside to look more properly into those strange toxic green orbs. Was this guy wearing contacts or something?

Brendon continued staring into the human's eyes, using the glamour effect just to hypnotize him. He needed to know, so he can begin gathering evidence. He can't get evidence unless he convinces his boss that the father is indeed abusing his son.

The human's tense form eventually relaxed as he continued to stare into those eyes... he felt like he was being pushed back to the back of his mind and he didn't really know the feeling at all nor notice it until after he'd been staring into the vampire's eyes for a while.

"Now then… Give me an honest answer—have you been abusing your child?" The vampire said, if he atleast had some control, the man will be able to tell as long as they both are staring into eachother's eyes.

Yes..." The human said, the answer rolling easily off of his tongue without him even realizing it... heck he didn't even know why he was staring into this investigators eyes yet he couldn't look away no matter how hard he concentrated.

"How much have you done it? Did you ever think that your neighbors would be suspicious about it or worry of the state your son is in?" Brendon asked.

"Daily, most of the time the neighbors don't hear or care," The human answered, once again unable to stop the tumble of information.

The vampire glared before he placed his glasses back on, breaking the hypnosis. "That's all I needed to know. Now… If you will I wish to speak to your son—alone."

"Sure don't care," The man said, shrugging slightly. The hypnosis was still somewhat in affect because he was a weak man but it was quickly wearing off and he reached over to pick up his beer and put it in its "rightful place"… Which just so happened to be his hand.

Brendon snorted before he headed to where Keef was, now that he knew the truth—he'll have to work on getting Keef out of this mess. But it won't be easy, he needed evidence… and it would mean that Keef will have to suffer another beating in order to get the evidence. He didn't really want the kid to suffer again, but what choice did he have?

Keef was seated in his excuse for a living space, sitting on the corner of the air mattress that took up most of the space in the small room… the rest of the place being taken up by very small, and most of them worthless, possessions.

"It's not going to be easy getting you free from this. I have a video camera to record it when it happens again… Should be liable enough evidence for the court to take action. Unless you wish to stand as a witness?" Brendon raised his brow.

The redhead frowned slightly when the investigator said that... he'd thought that his father's confession was enough and that he'd be home in a couple of hours... too bad life didn't always turn out like you thought it should. "I don't want it to happen again..." he said quietly almost pleadingly.

The vampire rubbed his chin before he got a pager message from his partner, "You won't have to worry about it then. The court will have to ask you questions before you are free. But I must ask… Do you have any other family?"

The teen shook his head some, "The rest of my family members are either dead or in a hospital somewhere," he explained.

"Shame…" Brendon crossed his arms, "I could probably have you room with me until we find a family for you." He offered.

Keef was a little shocked by the offer and he fidgeted lightly at the hem of his sweater. "I wouldn't want to be a bother Sir..." he said out of habit.

"It's fine, I really don't have any roommates—gets kinda boring living alone." The vampire shrugged. "I have plenty of food even."

The teen made a small thoughtful noise averting his gaze from the older male. "Well as long as it's no trouble... I don't see why not," he said.

Brendon turned his head as he heard the sirens and he took a seat on the bed, "It's best if you stayed here while the cops take care of your dad. One of them should come up when the cost is clear."

Keef nodded some before raising his gaze from his fidgeting back up to the investigator, "Hey Brendon?" he asked, having taken a moment to remember the older male's name.

The investigator glanced over to Keef as he raised a brow, "Yes?" He answered, wondering what was on the teen's mind at this moment.

"Thanks," The teen said, a small smile coming to his lips and his pained eyes brightened slightly into a more innocent and child like look.

"No problem." Brendon smiled, "Hey... I was wondering something..." He stared, simply because he was curious and needed to pass the time until one of the cops come up.

Keef tilted his head slightly out of curiosity..the action giving him an even more child-like air to him, "About what?" he asked curiously.

"Do you believe in Vampires?" The investigator asked, mainly because he was thinking of teaching this kid somehow.

The teen's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion... he'd never been asked that particular question before.. and he barely knew what a vampire was. He'd only ever heard of them through the small amount of time he'd ever watched TV and when he'd borrowed a book or two from the library. "I'm not sure... why?" he asked, the uncertainty plain in his voice.

"You'll know in due time. I was only curious, but... I was thinking of teaching you hand-to-hand combat..." Brendon answered, then turned his head as a cop stood at the door. "Everything taken care of?"

"Yes, Brendon, the suspect is now on his way to jail to wait for trial. Does the victim have any family he can go to?" The cop asked.

"No. He can stay with me until we find a family that can take him in.." The Vampire answered.

Keef was somewhat shocked by the information, hand-to-hand combat? He knew very little about it but he liked the thought of being able to defend himself. The shock was easily replaced by his shy exterior when he noticed the cop in the doorway and he fell back into his habit of fidgeting in silence while the adults talked it out..another trait that'd been forced upon him by his father.

"You sure? I hope you're not planning on teaching the kid martial arts." The cop crossed his arms.

"He might need it, and He'll survive. If he can learn pretty fast he'll be successful." Brendon smirked.

The teen looked between the two adults confusedly as they spoke, not really sure where this conversation was going. He wasn't physically strong at all so if learning this martial arts was dangerous he wasn't sure how he'd react.

"Very well, don't do anything stupid." The cop said and then moved his head to gesture them to follow. "Come."

Brendon looked to Keef, offering his hand, "Come, we'll have to so you your temporary home until the court calls you to take the stand." He said, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask."

Keef shrunk back slightly when he was offered the hand, looking up at the investigator unsurely for a moment. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do seeing as he wasn't exactly a very social person. Though after a moment he extended his own hand tentatively and took the older male's, nodding so he knew that he'd heard.

The investigator took a firm grip of the gentle hand, not to hurt the boy as he guided Keef out of the dirty house and towards his partner's car. The car wasnt exactly a police car but it was close to it. It was a dark blue with a nice sheen and it had what was needed for the car to pass as part of the law enforcement groups. "Get in."

Despite the fact that no harm came from the firm grip the teen still became somewhat fearful. He was about to go live with a man he'd only met a couple of hours ago.. and he didn't even know if the investigator was trustworthy or not. The command snapped him out of his worried thoughtsand he quickly and obediently crawled his way into the car.

Brendon shut the door once Keef was inside and got in the car next to the driver, which was his partner. "First let me introduce you to my partner, Mason Saxon. He's our designated driver since I'm not really allowed to drive."

"Got that right, you drive like a crazy man, only kind of driving you are good for is when we're doing a chase." Mason chuckled.

"Shut it, prettyboy." The vampire snorted.

Keef looked between the two as they joked, settling back into his seat. He wasn't really sure if he should introduce himself as well..so he figured his best bet was to just stay silent.

"We're going home, so might as well take us there." Brendon said as he buckled himself.

"Is that a good idea?" Mason gave Brendon a look.

"Do we have a choice? It's only temporary until we find a more suitable family that would take care of him." The vampire sighed as his partner blinked and began driving the car.

The teen was somewhat uncomfortable when the conversation turned to him and where he'd be staying, though he listened silently. He found it somewhat odd that they could talk about his fate so easily when he was sitting in the backseat of the car, so unsure of what was going to happen next.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Brendon. Everyone on the police force knows what you are and how you're like, the kid doesn't know you yet. He can't expect anything." Mason said as he drove.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not going to lift a fang on him-not even once. That's why I have those bags you gave me, that's supposed to regulate my weekly doseage." Brendon glared at his partner. It wasn't the best time to talk about it.

Keef's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, the conversation had taken a weird turn in his opinion and he didn't know whether he should be glad or scared that he didn't know what they were talking about. He settled on more towards the scared side... especially when Brendon used the strange saying involving a fang.

"If something happens, Brendon, I'm owning your ass." Mason said.

"Mason, it's not the best idea to talk about this when he's in the car with us." Brendon crossed his arms.

"Since he's temporarly living with you, I think he should know." Mason added.

"Just shut up and drive, we'll talk about it later." The vampire growled.

The teen went back to his near constant fidgeting, not sure what to make of the small bits of information he'd received. He was having second guesses about taking up Brendon's offer to stay with him.

The car eventually stopped infront of a twostory, salmon colored house that almost looked as if it could only fit a rich man. Brendon got out of the car and opened the door for Keef, "We're home, kid."

Keef crawled his way out of the car, deciding not to mention that he was having second thoughts. He didn't want to seem rude... and for all he knew he could be blowing this all out of proportion and the conversation Brendon and Mason had been having could really be nothing... or so he hoped.

"remember, you have to tell him." Mason said, Brendon just waved it off, "Don't worry about it, now's not the time." He scoffed before he lead Keef to the door. Mason shook his head before he drove off, he had other things to do so he'll check on them later.

The teen allowed himself to be lead up to the door, looking the rather large house over in shock. On the drive up he'd been too worried and nervous to really look at his surroundings but now that he was actually standing in front of the house there was no missing it.

The investigator took out his keys and unlocked the door, opening it and waiting as he allowed Keef in first. The inside was clean and well furnished, not the best look but it was good enough to make anyone feel at home.

Keef looked around, his shock growing slightly when he noted that the house was fairly clean. Unlike his own home which had been almost always littered with garbage and was rarely ever cleaned unless the teen was forced into doing so. The house was also obviously more spacious than his own and the size of the room made him feel somewhat small.

"Have a seat, I'll get ya something to eat... If you're hungry?" Brendon glanced at the teen as he shut the door behind them. He'll give a tour later, the kid was most likely hungry at this point. He had no clue if the father was even feeding the poor kid.

The teen's face lit up at the thought of actually having something to eat, his dad did feed him enough so that he didn't die of starvation but it'd been a couple of days since he'd had anything beyond a slice of bread. He quickly moved to take a seat as he'd been told.

The vampire chuckled and headed to the kitchen to prepare lunch for Keef while he sucked on a blood packet. The Kitchen was pretty much right next to the living room that the teen was in, "So... Anything you'd wanna tell me about yourself?"

Keef had to think about that for a minute... well actually he had to really think about that. He didn't have many likes.. or interests.. or anything of the sort. Anything close to a hobby or interest had been beaten out of him a long time ago. "Well..." he said thoughtfully, "I think I like to read..." he said a little uncertainly. He'd only read a couple of books and yes they'd been enjoyable but he didn't know if he really liked reading in general.

"I have quite abit of books in the house, they're on shelves." Brendon said, finishing the packet and throwing the empty bag in the trash before getting the food and bringing it over to Keef. "Wasn't sure what you wanted but I gave you the basic nutrients."

The teen's eyes widened when he saw actual meat on the plate and he took the food as though it were as precious as a newborn child... and to him right then it probably was. He recognized steak, corn, a roll of bread, and some form of mixed fruit. At this point he'd completely forgotten that he'd been talking to Brendon as he began eating hungrily.

The vampire chuckled and took a seat in one of the recliners, figuring that he'll give Keef a tour of the house once the kid finished eating. He took a TV remote that was in one of the pockets over the armrest and turned on the TV that was infront of them. For now he was going to rest abit.

Keef leaned back comfortably in the chair he was in, watching the TV turn on with mild interest as he continued eating like a starving animal. He'd only watched TV maybe 3 times in his life..and the one at his house was much smaller and most of the time it just got static.

"Tell me when you're ready to tour the house, I was thinking of doing that once you finished eating." Brendon said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

The teen nodded some, his own eyes still on the screen so he didn't notice that Brendon wouldn't see the action. He actually finished the plate of food rather quickly and just set the plate aside instead of saying anything because the TV was really interesting to him right then.

The investigator yawned some, he was going to need a nap soon and the TV wasn't really making his tiredness any better. So he decided to get up and rubbed his eyes under his sunglasses. "Gettin tired here, so lets get you adjusted to this place before I fall asleep."

Keef was slightly dissapointed when the investigator drew his attention away from the TV, but he figured that he probably should know his way around the house so he simply nodded and climbed out of the chair, taking his plate back to the kitchen to clean it.

Brendon watched Keef as he stood and waited for the teen. It was hard to tell of his tiredness under his tinted lenses, but he was definitely tired as hell.

The teen eventually emerged from the kitchen, having actually finished cleaning most of the dishes that had been in the sink. It was a habit of his to clean things when he thought they were too dirty.

The vampire gestured to Keef before he began giving Keef a tour of the interior. He pretty much only had two bathrooms, and two extra rooms that weren't really used much and upstairs had three bathrooms with about two bedrooms including the master bedroom—which belonged to Brendon.

Keef followed the vampire around the home, memorizing the basic layout of the rather large abode so he wouldn't get lost.

"Your room will be right there..." Brendon pointed to the bedroom that was a regular size, enough space for bed, drawers and perhaps a desk for a tv and games—which the bedroom was already complete with. "And I have an attic and a basement, The attic is too stuffy since I havent installed the air conditioning in it yet."

The teen peaked into the room once the vampire pointed it out as his and his eyes widened. "Y-you're letting me have all of that?" he asked in disbelief. The room was at least twice as large as his old bedroom not to mention the bed looked so comfortable.

"Why not? It's not gonna hurt anyone, and I have my own gaming systems. Those were mainly for any guests that want to spend the night or somethin or incase someone decides to move in." The vampire answered.

Keef looked between the room, then the older male, then the room, and back. A grin spread across his face and he threw his arms around the investigator before he could stop himself, "Thank you!" he squeeked overjoyedly.

Brendon was abit startled when he was hugged so suddenly, "uh... You're welcome." He replied, a bit confused at first but he shrugged it off. He figured that the kid never had the privelege to have video games.

The teen grinned up at the older male before detatching himself from the other's form to check out the room which had been appointed to him. Sure it wasn't very personalized but he really didn't care because this was possibly the happiest he'd been his entire life.

The vampire blinked before he went into his room, "I'm takin a nap..." He said as he went inside the master bedroom and closed the door so he could undress and get under the covers. He hated the sun, it always made him tired after awhile.

Keef flopped down on the bed in the room, a pleased sound escaping him when he noticed how soft the sheets were. He snuggled into the mess of sheets and pillows, quickly becoming so comfortable that he didn't want to move. He'd never been privilaged to lay on such a comfortable mattress and he was going to enjoy this as much as possible.


End file.
